The present invention relates to a content delivery system and a method for content delivery, and more particularly, to a system that allows for control of content access and distribution via a license counter verification protocol which is integral to the system.
The distinction between a consumable product and its container is well-known in the art of commerce. Often a vendor offers a packaged, consumable product whose empty container has some value in itself for the consumer after the product has been consumed. While such bundling of products is feasible for physical products, like cookies in a metal box, or fruits in a straw basket (providing a desirable synergism for the bundling), it is not feasible for selling a one-time, pre-paid license for copyrighted digital content such as a software product.
For the purpose of this disclosure and claims, the terms “software”, “software product”, and “software product code” include any type of digital content, including but not limited to executable software files, media files intended to be consumed or played by executable programs, or any combination of the two.
Pre-paid digital content is often meant to be licensed for a single installation or for a limited number of uses. Packaging the pre-paid digital content in detachable media such as a CD-ROM or a diskette would enable multiple installations and unlimited usage on many computers. This is typically prevented by applying a post-installation registration process involving communication with a licensing authority. Such registration processes imply that the packaged content, as delivered before licensing, has negligible value for the user in itself; therefore, it does not contribute to the value of the bundle; and thus, it does not provide a desired synergism between two valuable bundled products.
It would be very useful if pre-paid digital content could be bundled with a durable, detachable memory device such as a DiskOnKey™ portable memory available from M-Systems Inc. of Kfar Saba, Israel, to become a joint product, where each of the two components promotes the sales of the other.